Fewer players finished Mass Effect 3 than completed Mass Effect 2

More than five months after Mass Effect 3 was released, only 42 per cent of players have completed the game.

That's less than Mass Effect 2, where 56 per cent of players finished the final mission.

BioWare online development director Fernando Melo revealed the player data during a talk at GDC Europe today. Mass Effect 2's completion rate even got a boost this year, he added, as players readied save files to import into Mass Effect 3.

Both games' completion rates are still better than some other BioWare titles, which show that the amount of time a game has been released does not necessary tally with the percentage of players who complete it. 40 per cent of players completed the original Mass Effect, for example, while only 36 per cent beat Dragon Age Origins. 41 per cent of Dragon Age 2 users struggled to the end.

Was Mass Effect 3's controversial finale an issue for those who gave up before the final fight? The Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut - which included a new ending option and several extra cut-scenes to flesh out the final battle - was supposed to correct this.

So too was the game's multiplayer co-op mode, designed to keep people interested in the game longer. But while more people in general play Mass Effect 3 than its predecessor due to its online option, the length of time that people kept playing the game has remained about the same, Melo explained.